Why Would Someone Make Necklaces Out of Human Hair? We Interview the Artist Who Did

Kerry Howley, a bright and articulate (and decidedly non-Goth) British art student who just graduated from Middlesex University with a degree in jewelry design, is happy if you’re grossed out by her work. That’s the whole point.
Kerry’s graduate project was a series of five necklaces made from human hair, and she’s getting a lot of attention lately; it’s not often that you come across hair jewelry. The necklaces are intricate and gorgeously crafted, but seriously creepy once you realize how they’re made.

Kerry Howley, a bright and articulate (and decidedly non-Goth) British art student who just graduated from Middlesex University with a degree in jewelry design, is happy if you’re grossed out by her work. That’s the whole point.
Kerry’s graduate project was a series of five necklaces made from human hair, and she’s getting a lot of attention lately; it’s not often that you come across hair jewelry. The necklaces are intricate and gorgeously crafted, but seriously creepy once you realize how they’re made.

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Kerry Howell, a bright and articulate (and decidedly non-Goth) British art student who just graduated from Middlesex University with a degree in jewelry design, is happy if you’re grossed out by her work. That’s the whole point.

Kerry’s graduate project was a series of five necklaces made from human hair, and she’s getting a lot of attention lately; it’s not often that you come across hair jewelry. The necklaces are intricate and gorgeously crafted, but seriously creepy once you realize how they’re made.

Called “Attraction/Aversion,” the collection explores “how people can feel these seemingly opposing emotional responses simultaneously.” She did such a good job evoking this response in people that she won an award from the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture. The necklaces are based on wallpaper patterns that she found at the museum. She wanted an inherently beautiful and intricate design.

We spoke to Kerry over the weekend to hear more about the project and her plans for the future.

Fashionista: How did this project start? Kerry Howley: In the second year of my degree I was looking at circuses and freak shows, and how in the Victorian age they were very interested in the grotesque. But they would only look at things if they were separated from them somehow, like behind bars or velvet curtains. So I made some objects that were grotesque but [put them] in beautiful silver boxes. You wanted to pick up the beautiful box, but when you saw what was inside the box you [think], “I don’t think I like it anymore.” It’s a continuation of that.

What kinds of things were in the boxes?
I had a beaver’s paw that had been preserved, and I had a mouse’s skull. Things you wouldn’t really want to touch or see.

How did you decide to use hair as your medium?
Because it’s a material we’re all very familiar with, and it’s something that we take a lot of pride in. We look after our own hair--we brush it and we wash it and we style it. But as soon as it’s apart from us it becomes very disgusting, especially other people’s hair. It’s a deep feeling of revulsion. Also it’s got a history in jewelry. The Victorians used to use it in mourning jewelry; people used to get commissions of hair jewelry using hair from their loved ones.

What’s the source of the hair in your jewelry?
I’ve used my own, but for the other necklaces, a friend of mine’s mother who doesn’t cut her hair very often, she volunteered a haircut for me. It was beyond waist length. She got about 30 or 40 cm cut off.

Did you use any products on the hair or was it clean hair?
It was clean hair. I didn’t do anything with it.

How long did it take to make them?
The collection is five necklaces. They took between 40 and 60 hours each.

What have been the reactions you’ve been getting?
People are really interested in them. People from a distance will see them and think they look beautiful and intricate--think maybe they’re lace or a line drawing. They wander over and realize what they’re made of. They then feel like, “Oh, do I like them anymore? They’re made of hair. That’s disgusting.” They do have the reaction that I wanted them to have.

Now that you’re finished w/ school, what do you want to do?
I’d like to continue what I’m doing. I’m available for commissions for these pieces, though I need to develop a more secure method of wearing them. I’m also considering using different materials. Not everyone wants to wear hair! I’m thinking of raw silk fibers and doing exactly the same thing. (You can purchase her wares on Not Just a Label.)

Do you have any future projects in mind using non-traditional materials?
I’d like to work with bone; that’s obviously got a lot of connotations. It’s a usable material, it’s almost like recycling because there’s lots of it available. It’s a waste product. There’s nothing wrong with it as a material. If it can be recycled in a nice or attractive way I think that would be really interesting.

Calling all Brit designers: you need to commission some pieces from Kerry immediately.

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Can we please stop making perfume out of things that should not touch people’s skin? Seriously. I don’t want other people’s bodily fluids (even Lady Gaga’s) on my skin, unless it is a completely consensual episode agreed upon in advance. While not QUITE as disgusting as, Surplus, you know, the fragrance made from poop, the thought of perfume made out of urine is not appealing.
"Conceptual artist" Cherry Tree, whose real last name is actually Blansit, started collecting her urine in 2006 after every full moon.

For those of you who aren't reading Mindy Kaling's (aka Kelly from The Office), newly re-launched blog, The Concerns of Mindy Kaling, why aren't you? It's ridiculously funny, plus she talks about food and jewelry and hair, three of our favorite things.
Anyway, this week she mentioned that her hair stylist, Jen Atkin, brought her a bottle of prenatal vitamins from Trader Joe's and that since she's been taking them, it's made her "hair grow faster, thicker" and kept her "skin glow-y and smooth." To a woman who hasn't had kids or doesn't want kids anytime soon (and also those who are absolutely, positively done with child-bearing), the word "prenatal" can be an absolutely horrifying one. But...thick, shiny hair? Lots of us are willing to stick poisonous formaldehyde on our heads, so why not take some pre-baby vitamins?

Last week, while in search of cheap jewelry for my Halloween costume, I stumbled across something pretty weird and confusing: a necklace that is basically a cartoon character version of a "traditional" Native American girl hanging from a chain. She has tanned skin, rosy cheeks, long, dark side braids, and a somewhat stereotypical-looking Native American dress. I looked over to see, in addition to the Native American girl, several similar necklaces that displayed traditionally-dressed Asian girls.
Apparently, Forever 21 thinks that people want to wear outdated, cultural stereotypes as necklaces, and that it's okay to sell them. Unfortunately, it gets worse. Later, I perused their website and found that one of the necklaces is literally called "Oriental Girl Necklace." Seriously. Because why not slap on an offensive and outdated descriptor to your offensive culturally-insensitive jewelry?